Kevin Bieksa

Kevin Bieksa
Position	Defence
Shoots	Right
Height Weight	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 206 lb (94 kg)
NHL Team	Vancouver Canucks
Born	(1981-06-16)June 16, 1981, Grimsby, ON, CAN
NHL Draft	151st overall, 2001 Vancouver Canucks
Pro Career	2004 – present

Kevin Christopher Bieksa (born June 16, 1981) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman who currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). After a three-year junior hockey career in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OPJHL) with the Burlington Cougars, Bieksa was awarded a scholarship to Bowling Green University. He was a one-time All-CCHA honourable mention during his four-year tenure with the Bowling Green Falcons of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). He graduated from the university with a bachelor's degree in finance and was a two-time CCHA All-Academic honourable mention in 2003 and 2004. Following his freshman year, Bieksa was selected 151st overall by the Canucks in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft and joined their minor league affiliate, the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League (AHL), upon graduating. He earned AHL All-Rookie Team honours in his first and only full season with the Moose, before joining the Canucks as a regular member in 2005–06. He is known as a physical and aggressive defenceman.

Playing career

Junior and university

Bieksa began a three-year Junior A career with the Burlington Cougars of the OJHL in 1997–98. He recorded 37 points over 48 games in his second season with the Cougars and 33 points in his third. Bieksa was drafted into the major junior Ontario Hockey League (OHL) by the Mississauga IceDogs, but opted to play college hockey in the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) instead.

In 2000–01, Bieksa joined the Bowling Green Falcons of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA). After a 13-point regular season in 35 games as a freshman, he helped the Falcons become the lowest seeded team in league history (ninth) to advance to the CCHA semi-finals. He scored his team's lone goal in a 2–1 defeat to the Michigan State Spartans before the Falcons were eliminated.

In the 2001 off-season, Bieksa was drafted by the Vancouver Canucks with the 151st pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He returned to Bowling Green to complete his four-year college career after being drafted, recording 15 points in 2001–02. Bieksa was named an alternate captain to D'Arcy McCovney prior to his third season and subsequently improved to a college career-high eight goals and 25 points in 2002–03. Bieksa was chosen by Falcons fans as the recipient of the W. G. Grinder's Grinder Award and was a co-recipient of the team's Jim Ruehl Award as the best defensive player with Jordan Sigalet. He was also given his first of two consecutive honourable mentions as a CCHA All-Academic.

Playing in his fourth and final college season in 2003–04, he scored seven goals and 22 points in 38 games, while leading his team in shots on goal. He earned an honourable mention to the All-CCHA Team and received the Falcons' Howard Brown Award as the coaches' selection for best player.

Manitoba Moose

Bieksa signed an amateur tryout contract with the Canucks' AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, on March 24, 2004. He appeared in four games with the Moose to close out the 2003–04 season, notching two assists. He remained with the Moose in 2004–05 and scored his first professional goal on the powerplay in a 3–2 shootout victory against the Cleveland Barons on November 11, 2004. Bieksa finished his first full professional season with 12 goals and 39 points in 80 games. He was chosen as the AHL Rookie of the Month for March after recording two goals, 11 points and a plus-11 rating in 13 games and was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team after his first full professional season. His 39 points broke Kirill Koltsov's team mark of 32 for points by a defenceman, set the previous season. Canucks assistant general manager Steve Tambellini lauded Bieksa for his quick adjustment and development from college hockey to the AHL.

Bieksa entered the Canucks' 2005–06 training camp as a projected competitor to be the team's sixth defenceman. However, three days into prospects camp, he suffered a high ankle sprain after colliding into the boards with another defenceman. He was re-assigned to the Moose on October 3, 2005, and missed the first month and a half of the 2005–06 AHL season. While sidelined, Bieksa was named an alternate captain to Mike Keane by Moose coach Alain Vigneault on October 29. He made his return to the lineup on November 11 against the Rochester Americans. In his second game back, he notched two goals and an assist on November 15 against the Grand Rapids Griffins in a 6–5 shootout loss.

Vancouver Canucks

Bieksa at the Vancouver Canucks jersey launch in 2007

Bieksa during a game in 2009

With 16 points through 20 games with the Moose, Bieksa was called up by the Canucks and played his first NHL game on December 19, 2005, against the Los Angeles Kings. He was called for a roughing penalty 10 seconds into his first shift and played 10 minutes and 45 seconds total in a 4–3 shootout loss to the Kings. The following month, he notched his first NHL point, an assist to Markus Naslund, in a 3–2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on January 5, 2006. He remained with the Canucks until near the end of the season, as he was re-assigned to the Moose on April 8 to make room for the return of Ed Jovanovski from injury. Bieksa finished the season with six assists in 39 games for the Canucks, averaging 16 minutes of ice-time per game. On August 17, 2006, he was re-signed by the Canucks to a two-year, one-way, $1.05 million contract.

Early in the 2006–07 season, he scored his first NHL goal on October 13, 2006, against Vesa Toskala in a loss to the San Jose Sharks. Bieksa rapidly developed into one of the Canucks' top blueliners and finished the season leading all team defencemen with 30 assists, 42 points and 134 penalty minutes, while also tallying a career-high 12 goals. Paired with stay-at-home defenceman Willie Mitchell, he was also regularly given a shutdown role against opposing teams' top forwards. At the end of his first full NHL season, he was awarded the Canucks' Babe Pratt Trophy as best defenceman and Fred J. Hume Award as the unsung hero. Bieksa went pointless over nine games in his first Stanley Cup playoffs in 2007. He suffered two stomach oblique muscle tears during Game 6 of the opening round against the Dallas Stars, sidelining him for five games, before the Canucks were eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in the second round.

The Canucks acknowledged Bieksa's breakout season, signing him to a three-year, $11.25 million contract extension, on July 9, 2007. The first year of the deal, in 2008–09, saw Bieksa make $4.25 million, while the remaining two years were set at $3.5 million. He had one more season left on his original contract at $550,000.

A relative unknown in his first couple of seasons in the NHL, his last name, which is pronounced phonetically (Bee-ek-sa), was frequently mispronounced by sports newscasters and hockey broadcasters such as Bob Cole and Harry Neale of Hockey Night in Canada. It has even been misspelled on scoreboards.

A month into the 2007–08 season, Bieksa suffered a severe calf laceration in a game against the Nashville Predators on November 1, 2007. After battling with forward Vern Fiddler against the boards, Fiddler's skate slashed Bieksa across the back of his right calf. Bieksa was helped to the bench, leaving a trail of blood behind him on the ice. Although originally expected to miss two months, he ended up missing more than half the season with 47 games. Before returning to the lineup, he was assigned to the Moose for a one-game conditioning stint. Bieksa managed 12 points in 34 games with a team-worst minus-11 rating.

He continued rehabilitating his calf in the off-season, after the Canucks failed to qualify for the playoffs, admitting that his leg had not fully recovered upon his return. However, injury troubles continued early in 2008–09, as just two games into the season, Bieksa injured his knee while attempting to hit Wayne Primeau in an October 11, 2008 game against the Calgary Flames; he was out of the lineup for a week. On November 4, he was re-injured after taking a puck off his skate against the Nashville Predators. Bieksa played through the injury for two games before learning that he had suffered a bone fracture in his left foot. He returned to the lineup after missing seven games. Despite missing 10 games in total, Bieksa established a career-high 32 assists and 43 points, first among team defencemen.

Without a no-trade clause in his contract with the Canucks and seen as an emerging offensive defencemen throughout the NHL, Bieksa was routinely the subject of trade rumours. In the 2009 off-season, one such trade rumour was central in a feud between general managers Mike Gillis of Vancouver and Brian Burke of Toronto. On a Leafs TV documentary on the 2009 NHL Entry Draft that aired in September 2009, a segment involves Burke speculating that the Canucks had offered Bieksa to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a package that included forward Alexandre Burrows and a first-round draft-choice in exchange for Tampa Bay's second-overall selection. The documentary was immediately pulled from airing again and the Maple Leafs received a warning from the league.

Bieksa suffered the second serious cut to his leg in three seasons in 2009–10. During a game against the Phoenix Coyotes on December 29, 2009, he bodychecked opposing forward Petr Prucha, whose skate cut into his left leg, above the ankle. It was revealed six days later that Bieksa sustained severed tendons in his ankle. He was sidelined for three-and-a-half months, missing 27 games. The injury marked the second time in three years that he missed significant time due to a skate cut on his leg. As a result, he was limited to 55 games, notching three goals and 22 points. On the last game of the regular season, he scored his first two-goal game in the NHL in a 7–3 win against the Calgary Flames on April 10, 2010. Playing the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Kings in the opening round of the 2010 playoffs, Bieksa scored his first NHL post-season goal in the series' sixth and deciding game. His goal against Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick tied the score at 2–2 in the third period, en route to a 4–2 Canucks win. The Canucks were then eliminated by the Chicago Blackhawks the following round for the second consecutive year. Bieksa finished the playoffs with three goals and eight points in 12 games to lead team defencemen in scoring.

Following the defensive acquisitions of Keith Ballard and Dan Hamhuis in the off-season, Bieksa was once again involved in trade rumours. Despite being several million dollars over the salary cap, general manager Mike Gillis asserted after signing Hamhuis that the Canucks were "keeping Bieksa." However, he was one of six defencemen one the team with an upcoming salary in excess of $3 million and the lone player in that group without a no-trade clause. On a July airing of The Sports Network's Off the Record, Bieksa conceded that he expected to be shopped around by the Canucks, stating "I can put two and two together.

Playing style

Bieksa is known as a two-way defenceman with the Canucks, capable of playing in all situations. Early in his NHL career, he formed a shutdown pairing with Willie Mitchell. Offensively, he regularly jumps into the rush and has led the Canucks in defensive scoring in his only two full NHL seasons. His play is characterized by aggressive and competitive components. He also earned a reputation as a fighter early in his career in the AHL.

Personal life

Bieksa was born in Grimsby, Ontario, on June 16, 1981, to Al and Angela Bieksa. His father works in the Ontario Federation of Labour. He graduated from Bowling Green University in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in finance and a 3.42 grade point average.

Bieksa and his wife, Katie, have one son, Cole Walter, born October 24, 2007, and one daughter, Reese, born October 7, 2009. They have a home in Smithville, Ontario, close to Bieksa's hometown of Grimsby, Ontario.

Career statistics

				Regular season						Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM		GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
1997–98	Burlington Cougars	OPJHL		27	0	3	3	10		—	—	—	—	—
1998–99	Burlington Cougars	OPJHL		48	8	29	37	83		—	—	—	—	—
1999–00	Burlington Cougars	OPJHL		49	6	27	33	139		—	—	—	—	—
2000–01	Bowling Green State University	CCHA		35	4	9	13	90		—	—	—	—	—
2001–02	Bowling Green State University	CCHA		40	5	10	15	68		—	—	—	—	—
2002–03	Bowling Green State University	CCHA		34	8	17	25	92		—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	Bowling Green State University	CCHA		38	7	15	22	66		—	—	—	—	—
2003–04	Manitoba Moose	AHL		4	0	2	2	2		—	—	—	—	—
2004–05	Manitoba Moose	AHL		80	12	27	39	192		14	1	1	2	35
2005–06	Manitoba Moose	AHL		23	3	17	20	71		13	0	10	10	38
2005–06	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		39	0	6	6	77		—	—	—	—	—
2006–07	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		81	12	30	42	134		9	0	0	0	20
2007–08	Manitoba Moose	AHL		1	0	1	1	2		—	—	—	—	—
2007–08	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		34	2	10	12	90		—	—	—	—	—
2008–09	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		72	11	32	43	97		10	0	5	5	14
2009–10	Vancouver Canucks	NHL		55	3	19	22	85		12	3	5	8	14
CCHA totals				147	24	51	75	316		—	—	—	—	—
AHL totals				108	15	47	62	267		27	1	11	12	73
NHL totals				281	28	97	125	486		31	3	10	13	48

Awards

CCHA

Award	Year(s)
All-Academic (honourable mention)	2003, 2004
All-CCHA (honourable mention)	2004

Bowling Green Falcons team awards

Award	Year(s)
W. G. Grinder's Grinder Award (fan voted)	2003
Jim Ruehl Award (best defensive player; co-recipient with Jordan Sigalet)	2003
Howard Brown Award (coaches' selection)	2004

AHL

Award	Year(s)
AHL All-Rookie Team	2005

Vancouver Canucks team awards

Award	Year(s)
Babe Pratt Trophy (top defenceman)	2007
Fred J. Hume Award (unsung hero)	2007

Records

• Manitoba Moose franchise record; most points by a rookie defenceman - 39 in 2004–05 (surpassed Kirill Koltsov, 32 in 2003–04)

External links

• Kevin Bieksa's NHL player profile
• Kevin Bieksa's biography at Legends of Hockey
• Kevin Bieksa's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database